Aerated food products

Abstract

The present invention has as an objective to provide aerated food products containing solid particles at the gas bubble interface, and proteins which do not interfere with the solid particles, and of which the texture remains stable during storage. This objective is met by an aerated food product which contains aggregated protein particles which are not surface active.

The invention claimed is: 
     
       1. A method for production of an aerated food product, comprising the steps of:
 a) dispersing water-insoluble solid particles comprising ethylcellulose and/or a lipid material in an aqueous composition, wherein the particles have a volume weighted mean diameter between 30 nanometer and 10 micrometer, to create a dispersion; 
 b) introduction of gas bubbles to the aqueous composition of step a) to create a foam; 
 
       and wherein after step a) aggregated protein particles are mixed into the dispersion, 
       and/or wherein after step b) aggregated protein particles are mixed into the foam, 
       and
 wherein the aggregated protein particles are obtain able by a method for preparation of aggregated protein particles, comprising the steps: 
 c) dissolving or dispersing a protein in an aqueous solution at a concentration between 4% and 15% by weight; 
 d) aggregating the proteins in the aqueous solution into aggregated protein particles which are not surface active and have a volume weighted mean diameter between 200 nanometer and 20 micrometer; 
 e) separating the aggregated protein particles from non-aggregated protein, and wherein an aqueous dispersion of the aggregated protein particles at a concentration of 1% by weight at 25° C. has a surface tension of at least 60 mN−m 1 . 
 
     
     
       2. A method according to  claim 1 , wherein the protein is selected from the group consisting of dairy whey protein and chicken egg white protein. 
     
     
       3. A method according to  claim 1 , wherein step d) is performed by heating of the protein in the aqueous solution is under shear at a temperature between 75 and 99° C., during a period of between 10 and 300 minutes. 
     
     
       4. A method according to  claim 1 , wherein the separation in step e) is performed by washing with water. 
     
     
       5. A method according to  claim 4 , wherein a number of washing steps is at least 3. 
     
     
       6. A method according to  claim 1 , wherein the water-insoluble solid particles have a volume weighted mean diameter between 30 nanometer and 2 micrometer. 
     
     
       7. A method according to  claim 1 , wherein the water-insoluble solid particles comprise ethyl cellulose.